Hello Dear Reader,
We like a cake at the weekend, it sort of balances out the privations of the week. I was sent some Clark's Maple syrup, so I gave it a bash and tried one of St. Mary Berry's recipes that I'd found on the net. My version is gluten free and if and when I get some maple syrup and make this again, I will add a tablespoon of oil, or another egg or more butter as GF cake tends to dry out. But, cooking is about learning and I've learned that I can't just take a straight forward recipe and make it GF just by changing the flour.
To start you will need to warm the oven to 160C/375F/Gas 3 and line a deep round tin. I use cake tin liners.
You will need:
225g room temperature butter
225g soft brown sugar - you , like me, might have some left from making your Christmas cake,
zest of one orange - eat the orange, it doesn't go in the cake,
4 beaten eggs
100ml of maple syrup
2 tsp of baking powder
350g of self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
50g of chopped walnuts or pecans.
With the exception of the ground nuts, beat all the other ingredients together, whether by hand with a wooden spoon or with a hand blender.
Mix in the chopped walnuts of pecans.
Pour into the lined baking tin and bake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours - test with a clean dry knife, if it comes out clean then the cake is cooked.
Cool in the tin for a few hours.
The filling is butter icing flavoured with maple syrup and some grated orange zest. I used 300g of icing sugar blended with 140g of butter at room temperature and three tablespoons of maple syrup. Blend with hand blender or wooden spoon.
When the cake is completely cold, slice into three and evenly spread the butter icing, some of you will call this frosting, onto three layers. Decorate the top with more orange zest/walnuts or pecans. You could use whipped cream with the maple syrup and zest but you will need to eat it that day.
It was an indulgence but it's certainly cheaper than buying gluten free cake. I couldn't specifically taste the maple syrup but it certainly gave the cake a nutty, orangey sweetness that made a change from the usual carrot or lemon drizzle.
Over to you Dear Reader, when you want an affordable sweet treat what do you make for your family?
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Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx